Title: コイバナ恋愛
Developer: Asa Project
Release Date: 29th September 2023
Age Rating: 18+
Length: 15+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
When it was announced that his all-boys high school would be closed down and merged with the local all-girls school, Haruka Kanata took this as his sign to finally get himself a girlfriend. However, his co-ed debut doesn’t quite end up as expected and instead of a school of pure-hearted maidens he finds himself in a class with girls who aren’t exactly excited about the merger. Only mildly deterred, Kanata plus his two friends who are also new transfers, set their sights on wooing their new classmates. Will the group manage to navigate the highs and lows of romance as beginners?
Thoughts
The Asa Project + HookSoft + Smee group of brands are known to put out high quality moege with their own unique spin on it. Asa Pro are the company that lean heavily into the comedy part of the romcom genre, with a really unique and wacky sense of humour. Having played one of their prior titles (Acchi Muite Koi) I found myself enjoying this so figured that Koibana Renai would be a nice pick up. Did it manage to deliver on its unique premise balancing side + main romances?
As much as humour is entirely subjective, I thought this game was absolutely hilarious (especially during the common route). Between meta jokes and pop culture references there’s non-stop hijinks going on and the character interactions themselves are fun to read.
Sadly though, I think the game has a fundamental flaw – the side character romances are just more interesting than any romance between the protagonist + main heroines. I felt myself reading the game hoping for more snippets and progression of their romance as opposed to feeling excited about reading the main heroines’ routes. It doesn’t really help that the games ladder structure makes some of the routes feel less important than others.
Meguri
Meguri is the first heroine route that branches from the common route. She’s an upperclassman whom Kanata falls in love with at first sight. She’s a member of the girl’s basketball team and is the older sister of sub heroine/student council president Inori. Meguri’s introduction to Kanata was certainly memorable and much of the game’s early story is about his plans to convince Meguri to date him. The actual climax of this chapter & choice for entering this route was done well and I genuinely felt bad on subsequent playthoughs not picking Meguri at that moment. That being said, the romance in her actual route was bad. It’s basically just H scenes without too much relationship development. I still liked her as a character though.
Tokoyo
Tokoyo is an underclassman and is a bit of an oddball. She’s the daughter of the school’s chairman but can be found frequently doing part time jobs on the weekend. She is always deadpan and can be unpredictable at times, which leads to her having few friends. Tokoyo is such a wasted oppertunity in my opinion – she’s a genuinely interesting and funny character to have around, with her quick-witted quips adding a lot to much of the common route. However, her route is by far the weakest, and lacks both romance and plot – it just feels like it goes nowhere. In fact her whole chapter feels much like a hasty add-on to the game, which was a real shame.
Chii
Chii is the tomboy childhood friend and nextdoor neighbour of Kanata. They also end up in the same class when he transfers to her school. The pair were close as children but drited apart in the last few years. Chii loves basketball and is a member of the school’s team. Chii is the heroine who had the best chemistry with Kanata imo, so despite her route still not being great, it was probably my favourite of the four. Not that there was much to compare to but I digress.
Kokoro
Kokoro is a classmate of Kanata and is a girl who is a hopeless romantic. She’s waiting for her prince charming to whisk her away but let’s just say reality is not so kind. Kokoro is also a member of the school’s basketball team. From playing the game, I’m given the impression that Kokoro is the “true heroine” but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. I understand the message of her route is that “love comes in all shapes and forms” but I can’t shake the feeling that she has to “settle” for Kanata. I understand that her romantic delusions about a prince riding in on a white horse were just a little extreme but it’s not like her bar for relationships had to move from the heavens to the floor. Maybe it’s just my pure little 乙女心 but I didn’t really enjoy the romance in her route at all & Kanata just felt childish and annoying here.
Now Taiga x Fumi *was* a romance I could get behind
Moving onto the three sub-couples:
- Taiga x Fumi : The earnest but dumb as a sack of bricks friend of Kanata, and the pretends to be flirtatious but is actually pure/easily flustered classmate.
- Kousei x Inori: The “fell in love at first sight” guy with a slight stalkerish tendency, and the strict/straight-laced tsundere student council president who is against the school merger.
- Mia x Rei: The popular girl with a terrible attitude who has her eyes set on her prey, and a similarly popular boy who is contemptuous of her advances.
All three had pretty decent development by the end of the game and I found myself being very invested in these romance stories. This is helped by the fact that the game makes extensive use of perspetive changes which took a little getting used to but I did like it. Don’t worry there’s no H scenes for them (they’ll charge you extra for that with the fandisc).
As far as other side characters go, they were typically family members of the other characters. Most were likable, especially Kanata’s younger sister Kanari (who I’m sad doesn’t get a route) and classmate Kogara.
The artwork in this game is in the same style as Asa Project’s other titles, and I can respect their consistency. I personally enjoy this art style and it is definitely distinctive. The SD artwork in particular was adorable. I wish there were a few more CGs for the actual heroine routes outside of H scenes but other than that no complaints.
For a moege, the OST in Koibana Renai was surprisingly solid – with a lot of tracks that really set the tone for the scene. I might have to look into getting the soundtrack at some point. Voice acting was also really great – Nanakusa Yuuka as Tokoyo particularly stood out.
Conclusion
My Score: 6.5/10
For a game with romance in its title, Koibana Renai is surprisingly lacking this within the main heroine routes. That being said, this game is genuinely hilarious and is extremely fun to read during the common route, with that classic Asa Project sense of humour. Chances are if you like their other titles then you’ll probably like this too.
I respect that Asa Project tried to do something new with the side-character romances and really enjoyed that aspect of the game. I almost wish there was even more focus on that, with maybe only 2 heroine routes from Kanata’s perspective & the others being the side-couple routes.
I’ll be buying the fandisc in the hope of some resolution to the side-couples’ stories so hopefully it delivers in that regard.
Overall I can’t say I loved Koibana Renai but I did have quite a bit of fun with it, and it was at the very least memorable, which is a win in my books. Will I play the next Asapro game? Yeah probably. I still have a few on my backlog to get through first though!
Thanks for reading!
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